Discussion: Universe Champs!
in: BigWillyStyle; BigWillyStyle > 2017-04-12
Apr 14, 2017 2:30 AM
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Many thanks to Patrick for singlehandedly creating the map and for letting us run on it the Adobe and Google security guards from not chasing us off.
Fixed it.
Fixed it.
Apr 14, 2017 3:43 AM
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1) It's 10m shorter to go through the parking lot (135m vs 145), but I probably would have done the trail route, too, to start banking study time for the upcoming mayhem.
2) Assuming you cut though the light green, you did the shortest route. I'm curious if anyone went up the ramp and then go down the stairs. It's awkward and slightly longer.
3) Distance-wise, they are pretty even. Going up the ramp is 283m, going up through the plaza is 286m. The difference is stairs. With the ramp, there's just one set of stairs, and then gradual uphill running. The plaza has three sets of stairs. I also suspect that the ramp will allow you to bank more study time, since there are fewer distractions. Verdict: ramp is better, but the other route isn't horrible.
4) 315m using the bridge (that includes all flights in that staircase). 361m running back through the plaza. Fun fact: if you bent down at #3, you could see #4 (if it had a real control. the pin flags were too short).
5) The Z route is, surprisingly, shorter (190m vs 200m). I suspect that running speed is faster on the longer route through (no stairs, two long straight stretches of running, fewer decision points.
6) For such a short leg, this one had a left/right choice around the landscaping island, and a trap (left-most).
7) Your route is definitely better. It's shorter (200m vs 225m). It avoids more stairs. And I think you can stay running faster for just a little bit longer. With the purple line where it was on the PCC Market building, I was hoping to entice more people to go right into the slower route.
8) I think all the routes were pretty even here. Left is 157m, and the two right routes are 157m and 160m (the longer one is right of the triangle building). Your route only has one staircase, though, which is worth something. And your route didn't get you sucked across the street off the map like a lot of people had happen.
9) No intended route choice here, just testing to see if people could figure out how to get in there.
10) Yup, a bit of a dogleg here. I liked all of the dizzying turns into and out of this #9. On a sidenote, I should have put purple overprinting on the stairwell in that parking lot, because it does dump you unto the alley west of #10. There's a one-way door there, so you could shortcut that way to #10, but if the leg were reversed, it wouldn't work. Anyway, some people were tempted by the stairs and took them (advantage for them). It's mapped correctly, but I could have avoided tempting people to think there was a way out (and being rewarded for it).
11) Tunnel was 210m, left was 235m. This is the tunnel that I wrote about in my log a few weeks ago. I didn't know it existed until I went fieldchecking, and it instantly made one of the least interesting buildings way more interesting. I'm also glad that I was able to design a leg that made taking it an advantage. It's tucked away back in there a ways!
12-13-14) #12 was a tourist control. #13 was a change of pace. #14 was a setup leg for the next route choice. I thought about using one of the tiny thickets that I had mapped in the circle for #14, but I decided to make this one easy.
15) This one was set up to test if you had noticed those stairs or not. 230m is the distance that way. Your route is 245m. The Z route is 250m, if you're wondering.
16) The Z route is the shortest (230m) and has zero stairs. Going right is 250m and has the wavy stairs. Going left on the bridge is also 250m and has the 3 flights of stairs. I originally had this control a few meters to the west on the other side of the fence, but I wanted to entice more people to take the bridge route, so I moved it (the previous control placement also made the right route significantly the best, and I thought maybe it was too obvious. Maybe it wasn't.)
17) I might argue that the second set of stairs is better. On your route, you had to go up twice, and then back down a set of stairs to the plaza level of the control. Taking the second set of stairs doesn't have any overclimbing. And the total distances are essentially identical: 207m vs 210m.
18) Going left around the green was better. Going left or right around the wall is basically the same.
19) Yeah, I had a hard time determining what should be olive and what shouldn't be. I tried to follow a rule of: If your dog is wandering around in it, and you're nobody is really worried, then it's not olive.
20) I gotta use those, right?
21) The BG is definitely better: 220m vs 240m. But I wanted to make you think about it with the tricky control placement and how best to approach.
22) Right through the solstice plaza is shorter (230m vs 250m by climbing up the bridge).
23) Taking the ramp is a little longer (220m vs 205m), but as you say, it has zero stairs, instead of the three sets the other way. I'm quite pleased that I was able to get some decent route choice on #22 and #23 and still make the course legible (eg: no purple lines going through circles).
24) Of all of the controls, this one I felt most weird about, since it was in the tucked away parking lot of basically a houseboat community. But it was a nice piece of complexity near the finish, so I decided to use it (but I waited until the race had started to put the flag out). Having all of the SGLRG guys yell at Nikolay "You're off the map!" when he overran #24 made my day, though. I'm glad I put it there!
2) Assuming you cut though the light green, you did the shortest route. I'm curious if anyone went up the ramp and then go down the stairs. It's awkward and slightly longer.
3) Distance-wise, they are pretty even. Going up the ramp is 283m, going up through the plaza is 286m. The difference is stairs. With the ramp, there's just one set of stairs, and then gradual uphill running. The plaza has three sets of stairs. I also suspect that the ramp will allow you to bank more study time, since there are fewer distractions. Verdict: ramp is better, but the other route isn't horrible.
4) 315m using the bridge (that includes all flights in that staircase). 361m running back through the plaza. Fun fact: if you bent down at #3, you could see #4 (if it had a real control. the pin flags were too short).
5) The Z route is, surprisingly, shorter (190m vs 200m). I suspect that running speed is faster on the longer route through (no stairs, two long straight stretches of running, fewer decision points.
6) For such a short leg, this one had a left/right choice around the landscaping island, and a trap (left-most).
7) Your route is definitely better. It's shorter (200m vs 225m). It avoids more stairs. And I think you can stay running faster for just a little bit longer. With the purple line where it was on the PCC Market building, I was hoping to entice more people to go right into the slower route.
8) I think all the routes were pretty even here. Left is 157m, and the two right routes are 157m and 160m (the longer one is right of the triangle building). Your route only has one staircase, though, which is worth something. And your route didn't get you sucked across the street off the map like a lot of people had happen.
9) No intended route choice here, just testing to see if people could figure out how to get in there.
10) Yup, a bit of a dogleg here. I liked all of the dizzying turns into and out of this #9. On a sidenote, I should have put purple overprinting on the stairwell in that parking lot, because it does dump you unto the alley west of #10. There's a one-way door there, so you could shortcut that way to #10, but if the leg were reversed, it wouldn't work. Anyway, some people were tempted by the stairs and took them (advantage for them). It's mapped correctly, but I could have avoided tempting people to think there was a way out (and being rewarded for it).
11) Tunnel was 210m, left was 235m. This is the tunnel that I wrote about in my log a few weeks ago. I didn't know it existed until I went fieldchecking, and it instantly made one of the least interesting buildings way more interesting. I'm also glad that I was able to design a leg that made taking it an advantage. It's tucked away back in there a ways!
12-13-14) #12 was a tourist control. #13 was a change of pace. #14 was a setup leg for the next route choice. I thought about using one of the tiny thickets that I had mapped in the circle for #14, but I decided to make this one easy.
15) This one was set up to test if you had noticed those stairs or not. 230m is the distance that way. Your route is 245m. The Z route is 250m, if you're wondering.
16) The Z route is the shortest (230m) and has zero stairs. Going right is 250m and has the wavy stairs. Going left on the bridge is also 250m and has the 3 flights of stairs. I originally had this control a few meters to the west on the other side of the fence, but I wanted to entice more people to take the bridge route, so I moved it (the previous control placement also made the right route significantly the best, and I thought maybe it was too obvious. Maybe it wasn't.)
17) I might argue that the second set of stairs is better. On your route, you had to go up twice, and then back down a set of stairs to the plaza level of the control. Taking the second set of stairs doesn't have any overclimbing. And the total distances are essentially identical: 207m vs 210m.
18) Going left around the green was better. Going left or right around the wall is basically the same.
19) Yeah, I had a hard time determining what should be olive and what shouldn't be. I tried to follow a rule of: If your dog is wandering around in it, and you're nobody is really worried, then it's not olive.
20) I gotta use those, right?
21) The BG is definitely better: 220m vs 240m. But I wanted to make you think about it with the tricky control placement and how best to approach.
22) Right through the solstice plaza is shorter (230m vs 250m by climbing up the bridge).
23) Taking the ramp is a little longer (220m vs 205m), but as you say, it has zero stairs, instead of the three sets the other way. I'm quite pleased that I was able to get some decent route choice on #22 and #23 and still make the course legible (eg: no purple lines going through circles).
24) Of all of the controls, this one I felt most weird about, since it was in the tucked away parking lot of basically a houseboat community. But it was a nice piece of complexity near the finish, so I decided to use it (but I waited until the race had started to put the flag out). Having all of the SGLRG guys yell at Nikolay "You're off the map!" when he overran #24 made my day, though. I'm glad I put it there!
This discussion thread is closed.